I had meant to activate a different summit on my drive down to Lakeview for the 2023 Eclipse, don't know how I got Slide Mountain in my head (this was planned for the drive home).
Anyway, I found myself heading up the slightly overgrown road which required me moving or cutting through a few logs. Eventually I reached a point where hiking was going to be faster than cutting. I parked and set out on the hike road hike. From this spot (42.66903, -120.70945) the road quickly degrades. It would take someone (probably a couple people) with chainsaws and proper trail tools to restore the road. If you're wanting to do this activation by vehicle rather than hiking, a horse is probably the best choice.
I wore a blaze orange vest for this hike as I saw hunters in a camp lower down on the mountain.
The "road" is gradual and not too hard to follow. Lots of deadfall and boulders have reclaimed it.
Since it was late in the day I stopped just within the AZ and set up on a nice log to operate. I worked AG7GP on 2m with a longranger, but it was scratchy. I didn't waste much time calling on 2m and quickly set up HF with my KX2 and EFRW. In 19 minutes I had 20 QSOs across 20 and 40 meters. I didn't bother with the other bands as I was eager to join W7MTB and N7OLE at camp.
The hike back to the car and the drive back to Paisley was uneventful.
.jpg "Exploder parked looking down the road")
.jpg "Looking up the road from where I parked")
.jpg "Narrow Trees")